Greenbank Rd / Herring Lane

My Dad always called it Herring Lane. He was born in 1899. CH Painter in his book ‘A Short History of Hanham’ refers to this old name and he was of the same generation.

They knew the name but not the meaning, and they surely thought it odd, not to say ‘Fishy’.

It must have been for this reason that it was changed. We first see Greenbank on the OS Map 25-inch 2^nd series dated 1904.

Today the ‘lane’ is suffering blockages due to the Housing development at the House of Faith sports field. However I would like to take you back not 100 years but over 600 years to a time when another ‘blockage’ upset the local population. ~

          The year was 1385 and the day was the second Tuesday after Easter. This day was the old festival of Hockaday. The custom was to have a fair and day of leisure but because it was not a ‘working day’ it was convenient to have the local assize court meeting when miscreants had no excuse to avoid attending.

The court charge sheet says [in Latin] ~

“And that the miller of Hanham unjustly took money (overcharged - or Short-measure?), and that the ditch in Herynge Lane [Greenbank Rd] is blocked, and despite Maurice Taylor’s promise of early repairs he will be subject to a fine”.

This report shows the Miller of Hanham who is Wilielmus Heryng. His windmill was at the top of Heryngeslane at the site of the Cross Keys Pub. ‘Heringe Lane’ is referred to on Maps of Kingswood Chase of 1610 and 1672, and in the Government Survey of 1652.

If Greenbank Rd was already known as 'Heryngeslane' in 1385 it seems likely that the Heryng family had lived there and held the mill for many years.

    So Heryngeslane is eponymous to the Heryng family (Millers). The surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin.

The land on the east side of the road drains to the south and west into the roadway. From this I infer that the blockage must be a problem with the ditch on the east side because an owner on the west would have protected himself by clearing any blockage on his own side of the road. He and all users of the road would have problems from a blockage on the east side. So I am guessing that Maurice Taylor lived on the east side and maybe in the very place that is today the cause of a detour that we hope will soon be eradicated.

As for the name of the development ‘Abbotts Croft’ we must say the site never belonged to an Abbott nor was there as far as we know a Croft. If it belonged to an estate other than the King it would have been Barr’s Court

          

  

                                    Map of Kingswood Chase dated 1610

Roger Williams November 2018